It’s controversial and some people don’t like it, but one effective way to gain a foothold in pay per click advertising – especially if you’re just starting out – is to bid on your competitions’ key words, even their trademarked brand names.
Like I said, it’s controversial and some people don’t like it. But it works.
That’s why Google is changing its policy in the UK and Ireland. Well, it may not be exactly why, but if you read between the lines, what Google is saying is that they are interested in doing what is right for their search users. In other words, if it’s good for searchers then it’s good for all of us.
How can this be good for searchers? Because it helps them find what they are looking for.
Suppose you are a new start up manufacturer of laundry detergent. If a user types in Clorox then they will get a bunch of search results for the laundry detergent manufacturer. Some will be the Clorox web site itself and others will be third parties talking about Clorox. Those will be in the organic search results. But what about the ads on the side and top of the page? Those will consist of businesses that have bid on the word “Clorox” as a keyword, and anyone can bid on any keyword.
So how you can benefit?
You can benefit by bidding on “Clorox” as a keyword then write an ad that says something like:
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No, we’re not Clorox
Our detergent is better
Cheesy and sleazy? Maybe, but it does work. Trust me. It works.
Is this going to become a problem as a violation of trademark?
Thanks for the article!